4/5
Written by Luke Barnes
Summary
The film follows the struggles of Robert The Bruce as he rebels against the English crown and fights to become the King of Scotland.
Though there are a lot of historical epics, this one managed to stand out to me. I thought the pacing was tight and it covered a lot in an interesting way. The film could have easily felt slightly xenophobic and even as anti-English propaganda but honestly I think the film feels far more balanced than that and I found myself easily rooting for Bruce and his cause.
I thought the battle scenes were well done and very weighty enough to leave an impact. Moreover, I thought the performances were strong across the board, with Chris Pine being a dependable leading man throughout, only being upstaged by Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s James Douglas and Florence Pugh’s Elizabeth De Burgh. Truly everyone who said something to the extent of ‘oh Black Widow is Florence Pugh’s big breakout role’ are so deeply ignorant to a well of great performances from her.
Overall, I felt for a Netflix action film this was very standout.
Pros.
Pine
Pugh
Taylor-Johnson
The battle scenes
Cons.
Perhaps just a tad bloated
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